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2011-01-11 - Alien Invasion? - Scouting Space
Ever since this possibly alien object came to the attention of the Sentinels, Warbird's been quieter than usual, even a bit withdrawn. Now, as she awaits Superman's return with information about the object from up close, the blonde heroine is standing in the command center, staring at digital readouts with her arms crossed below her chest and her fet firmly planted, shoulders square. She looks grim, but then, she often does when things get serious. Outside through the viewing windows, the day is bright and clear. It is deceptive as there is a cold wind blowing about today. This does not really affect the blur of blue and red that zips by the windows once and is gone. A few moments later the elevator doors open and Superman comes striding out of the elevator and begins to head towards the computer terminal where Warbird is standing. "Warbird," comes the strong toned voice of Superman. "I trust things have been rather quiet around here while I took the trip." "Normal situation parameters," Warbird says, turning to face Superman. Her tone and expression don't give much, though, as she seems just as tightly wound once he arrives. "I'd be very interested in hearing what you've discovered about the object." A beat, and she adds, "Especially if it's hostile." Superman shakes his head as he taps a few buttons on the computer consol. "It is definitly a craft of some kind, but I did not recognize the design." He pulls up some images from the limited database they have on extraterrestials. He shakes his head again. "Nothing here seems to be helping either." He straightens up and looks over at Carol. "It is big, but not massive as you might find in space." He pauses for a moment and then estimates, "It is about the size of four city blocks give or take." "City blocks," Warbird echoes. "Big enough to be dangerous, anyway. It could be a scout ship." Some of the tension fades as she has something new to go on, and she crosses over to look at the monitor near Superman. "Any indication of armament? Power output capacity? Durability?" Naturally, she seems to be assuming a tactical appraisal of the situation. "Plenty durable. I could see terrestrial metals I was familar with, but some I was not as well." Superman reaches up to rub his chin as he tries to get some details of the ship straight in his head before entering them into the computer. "It is dense enough that I could not see into it, and an intial thrust against it revealed only that I could not push my way into it." He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Right now, I'm going to have to say it is dangerous. Saw what looked like armaments on the outside, and some heavy duty stuff at that, but I cannot be sure." Nodding, Warbird waits to see the numbers. As they begin to appear, she says, "Then there's nothing to do but consider it a threat and prepare accordingly. We can hope it's friendly, but if it may be that heavily armed, it may well not be alone... I don't think we can trust it. We should be considering worst case scenarios." "Agreed," Superman says with a nod. He punches a few more numbers adding to the information. "It looked like it was using some sort of particle streams for propulsion." He keeps tapping on keys and just shakes his head. "Wish I could identify it, but our database is limited. Just have not had enough exposure to what is out there to really know anything at this point." Warbird turns away again, shoulders tensing, and stares out the panoramic view toward the sky. "What really bothers me is, the government had to know about this before we did. We have deep space telescopes for this kind of thing -- I used to work for the space program. So, why the silence? Did they really think we'd be too stupid to find out?" Superman leaves the computers where an image of a saucer with gun implacements is starting to form from the information Superman is entering. He comes over towards the window and stands next to Warbird with his hands clasped behind him. "Perhaps they did. Maybe they were scared that with me being an alien, I might be in a compromising position?" He shrugs slightly. "I would hope they would ask about that sort of thing first before assuming that since I am an alien that I must be in cahoots with any other aliens that are coming toward us, but in my experience, people tend to act out of fear first most of the time." Nodding, Warbird unclenches her jaw to speak again. "It's plausible, and that's why I don't like it. If this is making the brass doubt our loyalties already, then we're already compromised. Didn't they know this was inevitable? Eventually, we had to be tested as something more than a PR stunt." She looks back to Superman, expression softening slightly. "It must be strange for you. It's odd enough for me, and I was born here." Superman looks over at Warbird and nods once. "It is strange. There is part of me that is quite excited that visitors from another world may visit here soon, but there is also the part that sees a threat to my home." He pauses and offers slight smile to Warbird. "And this is my home. My family is here. I may not have been born here, but I will fight in her defense." "I have no doubts about you, Superman," Warbird assures him. "I've known extraterrestrial heroes before, and you strike me as just as good a man as Mar-Vell. This became his home, too. We're all in this together, which is why it's so -stupid- that the government is cutting us out of this." She returns the smile, if faintly. "Anyway, don't feel any more alienated -- pardon the term -- than the rest of us." Superman smiles a little wider and glances down at the ground for a moment before looking out the window once more. "Thank you. I will do my best not to feel that way. I have had only limited experience with the government so far, but you were with the Air Force, correct? Do they often keep their front line personal in the dark like this?" "Depending," Warbird says, "they certainly might. But... this just seems different. We're supposed to have a measure of autonomy, even if we report directly to the program. Shouldn't we at least know what we need to prepare for? I hate being kept in the dark, even when it makes sense. In this case, it just doesn't." Her expression has gone focused again, serious. Superman remains silent for a few moments as he digests what Warbird said. He crosses his arms across his chest and looks down as he thinks. Finally he looks up and over. "It does not make any sense. Perhaps they have underestimated what I could do. Didn't know that I could fly that far into space and back with relative ease. If that is the case, perhaps I should not enter in a report into the computer that they could read? Just keep this information between us?" "I think that's your call," Warbird says, shaking her head. "But if it were me? I'd want them to know I knew and that I wanted to help. I... don't like being left out of the loop. And there's definitely a lot that we could do." She pauses, then wonders, "Could it be a test of loyalty? To see if we'll report this?" "Could be. I had not conisdered that." Superman raises his eyebrows in suprise at the suggestion. He shakes his head sharply after a moment. "I do not like this. They have us second guessing ourselves now. How can we possibly effective like this? If this is a threat, they are splitting us from within with these mind games." "Then we should contact them directly and tell them we know," Warbird says. "No games. Just play it straight. If they have doubts, we can beat those by playing this straight. When they see we follow protocol, they'll have to trust us more." Or, at least, so she seems to have concluded. "That makes sense to me, Warbird." Superman nods with a quick motion of his head. "By being above reproach, we put the ball in their court and make them see that they can trust us. Or we force their hands if they were trying to keep us out of this." Warbird smiles slowly and gives another nod. "Then that's what we should do. You have the information, so I recommend reporting it. We'll see what happens from there -- and soon, I hope." She relaxes only fractionally, but she seems less tense overall. "I think this will work. It -should- work." "It -will- work. I have a little faith in it." Superman gives a small chuckle and then heads back towards the computer where he finishes inputing the data he gathered from his space flight. The image on the screen is one of a gray saucer with what appear to be gun turrets at the four compass points and another on top. A listing of materials which could be recorded form a column next to the image. He pushes a button and saves the data in the computer and prints out a hard copy. "I will see this gets to their hands. Thank you for the advice, Warbird." "Glad to offer it," Warbird answers. "And I'm even more glad that you brought back something to go on. Now we're not flying totally blind, at least, and that's /something/." She drops into a seat. "Even so, I'm probably going to be spending a lot of time in here for now, just watching for more data." "Perhaps as it gets closer, which it appears to be doing, we will be able to take more trips out to it and bring more analytical devices with us." Superman walks towards the elevator carrying the report. "Do not spend too much time staring at the monitor though. It only tells us what we already know, after all." "I'll go stir crazy if I do," Warbird concedes. "So I'm sure I'll be out again soon, just to keep from feeling too cooped up." She glances up, nodding. "I'll be easy to find if you need me, though. Good luck with the report." Category:Logs Category:Alien Invasion?